Martin Scorsese poses with the Oscar for Best Director for 'The Departed'.

los angeles (reuters)

Martin Scorsese finally won the Oscar for best film director on Sunday with the crime thriller The Departed, ending one of the highest-profile losing streaks in the event's 79-year history.

"Could you double-check the envelope? I'm overwhelmed," Scorsese, 64, said, as he accepted the award from fellow directing titans Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.

Scorsese had been passed over again and again for works including Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, and Mean Streets.

Paradoxically, his victory came for a populist effort that was released with no intentions of seeking awards. Returning to his crime roots, Scorsese gathered an all-star cast, headed by Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon to fashion a story about official corruption in Boston.

It quickly became the biggest film of his career, selling more than $131 million worth of tickets at the North American box office. It picked up five Academy Award nominations in all. In addition to best director, it won for best picture, William Monahan's adapted screenplay and Thelma Schoonmaker's editing.

In recent years, Scorsese campaigned mightily for 2002 historical drama Gangs of New York and two years later Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator, but he failed to reel in the big award.

The Departed tells of an undercover Massachusetts state cop, played by DiCaprio, who infiltrates a criminal gang to catch a mole (Damon) in the state police.

Many of his peers like Steven Spielberg and Clint Eastwood, who also was nominated this year for directing Japanese language drama Letters From Iwo Jima, previously won Oscars.

The other nominees were Clint Eastwood for Letters from Iwo Jima, Mexico's Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for cultural drama Babel, and two British directors, Stephen Frears for The Queen, about the British royal family, and Paul Greengrass with September 11 drama, United 93.

Complete list of Oscar winners

los angeles (reuters)

Following is a complete list of winners at the 79th annual Academy Awards, held in Hollywood on Sunday.

❒ Best Picture

The Departed, Graham King, producer

❒ Best Director

Martin Scorsese, The Departed

❒ Best Actor

Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

❒ Best Actress

Helen Mirren, The Queen

❒ Best Supporting Actor

Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine

❒ Best Supporting Actor

Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls

❒ Original Screenplay

Little Miss Sunshine, Michael Arndt

❒ Adapted Screenplay

The Departed, William Monahan

❒ Documentary Feature Flim

An Inconvenient Truth, Davis Guggenheim, director; Laurie David, Lawrence Bender, producers

❒ Foreign Language Flim

The Lives of Others, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

❒ Animated Feature

Happy Feet, George Miller, director

❒ Original Score

Babel, Gustavo Santaolalla

❒ Original Song

I Need to Wake Up, Melissa Etheridge (from An Inconvenient Truth)

❒ Animated Short Flim

The Danish Poet, Torill Kove, director

❒ Art Direction

Pan's Labyrinth, Eugenio Caballero, art direction; Pilar Revuelta, set decoration

❒ Cinematography

Pan's Labyrinth, Guillermo Navarro

❒ Costume Design

Marie Antoinette, Milena Canonero

❒ Documentary Short Flim

The Blood of Yingzhou District, Ruby Yang, Thomas Lennon

❒ Film Editing

The Departed, Thelma Schoonmaker

❒ Live Action Short Flim

West Bank Story, Ari Sandel, director

❒ Make-up

Pan's Labyrinth, David Marti, Montse Ribe

❒ Sound Editing

Letters From Iwo Jima, Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman

❒ Sound Mixing

Dreamgirls, Michael Minkler, Bob Beemer, Willie Burton

❒ Visual Effects

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson, Allen Hall